Honeywell / Ademco Alarm Panels with RS-232 Interface

Introduction

This plugin is for Honeywell and Ademco Panels that have either an RS232 built into them, or the ability to add one on through a module such as the Honeywell 4100SM. This plugin is not designed to work with an third party add on module such as the IPDataTel or AD2USB modules. The protocol it talks over RS232 is Honeywell's proprietary one.

This plugin performs several functions:

It can arm or disarm the system from Vera.

It exposes all sensors in the system to Vera.

It exposes the system state (armed or disarmed) to Vera.

It reports on current maintenance status. It can also be used to do some routine functions.

Physical RS232 Connection

This will be different for each panel used. Development of this plugin was done on a Vista 128BPT panel, which has a header on the alarm panel board. In this case, the RX and TX pins were wired to a standard RS232 9 pin connector and connected to a FTDI serial to USB adapter. The panel has been heavily tested in this configuration, however, each panel or add-on module will have a different method.

However you connect your Vera to the RS232 of a Honeywell or Ademco Alarm product, the protocol should be the same.

There are 3 ways to connect the panel to Vera:

Direct connection using an USB RS-232 Serial Adapter like ​this one. For best compatibility with Vera, I recommend a serial adapter with FTDI or Prolific chipset.